■ A judge said actor Danny Masterson must stand trial on three counts of rape.
A judge on Friday said “That ’70s Show” actor Danny Masterson must stand trial on three counts of rape after hearing days of dramatic and emotional testimony from three women who said he attacked them in 2001 and 2003.
Los Angeles County Superior
Court Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo made the determination after the prosecution laid out its evidence over four days. She said she found the women’s testimony credible for the purposes of a preliminary hearing, where the bar for sufficient evidence is much lower than at trial.
The forthcoming trial will represent the rare prosecution of a Hollywood figure in the #Metoo era despite dozens of investigations by police and the Los Angeles district attorney, most of which have ended without charges.
Masterson denies the rape charges. His attorney, Thomas Mesereau, said Masterson had consensual sex with the women and that he would prove his client’s innocence.
The actor had no visible reaction to the judge’s decision to send him to trial as he sat in court, with a small group of family and friends behind him. Mesereau declined to comment outside court.
During the hearing, Mesereau repeatedly challenged the women on discrepancies in their stories in the years since they said they were raped and suggested that the prosecution was tainted by anti-religious bias against the Church of Scientology.
Masterson is a prominent Scientologist, all three women are former Scientologists and the church and its teachings came up constantly during testimony.
The judge said she found the women’s explanations credible that church teachings kept them from reporting their accusations to police for years.